


Triangulation

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-03-20
Updated: 1999-03-20
Packaged: 2018-11-10 22:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: Sometimes we don't see ourselves as others do...





	Triangulation

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).

Triangulation

This title may be a little obscure (what, obscurity from Nik? Never!) Basically, triangulation, if you've watched any good and many bad action/sci-fi shows, is about using different points of view to find something out. And if you've ever seen engineering students survey, you'll know that triangulation occasionally misses the mark. 

...oh, incidentally, Thatcher's in this. But I ain't apologisin' no more! :^) 

Nik 

\----- 

# Triangulation

by Nicola Heiser 

_You're out of your league._ The phrase came into her head, uninvited and unwelcome, as she watched the others at the dinner, watched her with Fraser. She tried to ignore it, but it nagged at her, piercing her with its truth. The inspector was arguing with him about poetry. Frannie recognised some of the titles, some of the names, from school, but that was where her knowledge gave way. 

Ray was paying out on her; "Inspector, I love a woman who can use a word like 'verisimilitude' in a sentence and mean it." Like he paid out on his kid sister, but the inspector handled it smoothly, a witty retort and a cool smile before turning back to Fraser to use more words Francesca couldn't understand. 

The inspector was everything Frannie would never be: intelligent, beautiful, self-possessed. Elegant. Articulate. She'd heard once that Thatcher - the Dragon Lady, Ray called her, and Frannie was grateful for that - had a PhD in criminology. Was one of the few female inspectors in the RCMP, and young for one at that. And Frannie made sandwiches. 

Inspector Thatcher was explaining something, gesturing gracefully with a manicured hand. Fraser was watching her with the faintest hint of a smile on his face, engrossed in what she was saying, but the inspector hardly seemed to notice, ultra-cool and casual. She turned to raise an eyebrow at something Ray said, murmuring something subtle. It took Frannie a while to get the joke, and by that time, she didn't feel like laughing, but she did anyway, too proud to show her hurt. _Out of your league._

\------ 

_Shut up, just shut up._ Meg snapped at herself. _They're not interested._ She looked at Francesca Vecchio, her face lit up as she joked with the others. The detective's sister was totally at ease, flirting with Fraser, giving abuse as good as she got from her brother, engaging other people in conversation with a confidence Meg envied. Engaging, that was the word to use with her. Francesca, with her vitality and enthusiasm, held people's attention, brought out brilliant smiles from people who were reluctant to speak to Meg. 

Fraser watched Francesca's antics with an affection and comical apprehension that tore at Meg's heart. Francesca Vecchio, passionate, bright-eyed, funny, very much alive. Not like Inspector Margaret Thatcher; she knew what Ray called her behind her back. The Dragon Lady, a glacier with an edge like a knife, couldn't have a normal conversation in a purely social setting. _Poetry. You're talking about poetry_ , and meanwhile Frannie was twisting them all around her little finger with a cute anecdote about Fraser, from before Meg had come to Chicago. The others laughed, in companionable reminiscence. To stay in the conversation, she said something clever, a witty observation that was a veiled dig at Frannie for making her feel so alone in a large group. _Shut up, Meg, just shut up._

=========================================== 

Nicola Heiser 

Nicola Heiser died on 24th October 1997, and is greatly missed by her friends and fans of her writing. 


End file.
